Dear friends,

We are delighted to announce the publication of the latest edition of China Analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Centre at Sciences Po. It looks at how Beijing views climate policies in the wake of the Copenhagen conference. China was blamed for forcing the conference into disarray and preventing a binding commitment on carbon emissions. In Climate policies after Copenhagen, the authors analyse the response to the conference within China itself, as it faces the worst environmental position imaginable, threatening its system and interests.

The paper´s findings outline that China will not risk sacrificing its economic growth and development by entering into binding international commitments. Its own environmental diplomacy and economy matter more to Beijing than environmental considerations. However, the authors argue that Beijing believes a global move towards a low-carbon economy presents it with economic opportunities for the future. They demonstrate China´s dexterity in manipulating systems to deal with climate change in order to gain full economic advantage from them. For instance, Beijing is miles ahead of Europe in formulating carbon taxes, and will make sure that such taxes work to its own benefit. The conclusions of this paper indicate that if Europe does not fight for better international standards in these new industries (from batteries to solar energy and ´clean´ vehicles) the future of environmental technology could belong to the Chinese economy, just as it already does in sectors like mobile phones.

You can download the latest edition of China Analysis: Climate policies after Copenhagen here. China Analysis is also published in French. This version can be accessed on the Asia Centre´s website.  

We hope that you will find the paper interesting and stimulating. Comments can be addressed to the authors directly at: chinaanalysis@centreasia.org and archives can be accessed online here.

Archives online:
http://www.ecfr.eu/content/entry/china_analysis
http://www.centreasia.org/en/6/articles-et-publications/7/china-analysis/

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